Off the Record

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Would you like to read about the latest on the PS2's Linux Dev Kit?

By IGN Staff

Stop. You have reached the videogame industry's black listed, off limits alleyway. Don't go any further unless you're prepared to read unofficial, perhaps... classified information. Here in Off the Record, we print the kinds of things your journalism teacher told you never to put down on paper. The stories, gossip and innuendo that never appear in a press release, but are nonetheless said in conversation (perhaps late night under the influence of a wee bit of alcohol), or the words spoken behind closed doors, or a company's new strategy that's so obvious that we simply couldn't resist -- this is what you'll find in Off the Record.

Official PS2 Linux Dev Kits Ready for US? IGNPS2 recently received a very interesting letter regarding the Linux development kit for the US and Japan. Although the details sound very good and true, we do get a lot of bogus letters, very much like this. So, we're reprinting this letter, sans the letter writer's name. It could be true, but then again... Anyway, read and enjoy, and time will definitely tell on this one.

"Hi! I'm a loyal reader of ps2.ign.com and I have been following your coverage of the recent announcement of the PS2 Linux Dev kit.

"I have a good friend who works for SCE, doing programming on network solutions for the PS2. He gave me the heads-up on the kit about 2 weeks before it was announced. Once it was announced, he gave me some more specific details about it, like the difference between official dev kits, etc. (There is only so much he can say, due to numerous NDAs, but he hints and talks around a lot. Once stuff is officially announced, he is free to talk.)

"Apparently, the US release of the Linux kit was supposed to be announced at E3. With the Japanese announcement, this plan has been killed. As you can see by the "beta" in the Japanese release title, this is a beta program. If it is well-received in Japan and Sony is happy with the program, it WILL be extended to the US. If it is extended, it will use the bay HDD.

"As for differences between the official dev kit and the Linux package is that for the Linux box, everything runs on the same hardware; ie. its kernel and your program. The program you create may will have almost full access to the VU and the Graphics Synthesizer, but the main bus and Emotion Engine will have to be shared. For the official devkit, there is a low-end PC card that handles the kernel and communications over TCP/IP.

"On a separate note, he has pretty much confirmed that Sony will announce the release date, pricing, etc. for the HDD at E3. (Well, he confirmed as much as he can without breaking those contracts.) Also, there will be some sort of free-HDD-with-subscription-to-Sony-service plan, like Sega did with the DC and Seganet."

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